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An Early March Snowstorm

Daylight Saving Time begins this coming Sunday, March 10th - that’s just three days away, when we all advance our clocks one-hour in order to make better use of natural daylight in the warmer months.

This season’s winter weather has been extremely erratic. We’re expecting heavy rain this weekend, with temperatures in the 40s, but just days ago, our area was hit with about eight-inches of snow and temperatures in the 20s. This particular snow was wet and heavy, but still really quite beautiful.

The morning after the storm, I ventured out to assess the condition of the farm, and to plow the four-miles of carriage roads from 6:30am to 8:30am while taking photographs everywhere. I used my trusted Polaris XP 1000 fitted with a snow plow and it worked wonders in the deep and heavy snow. Enjoy these images.

This photo was taken just before 7am. The entire farm was covered with beautiful white snow. It was a very cold morning, but I wanted to plow the carriage roads before heading to work.

This is the back of my carport, where I grow an espalier of dwarf apples. A series of bird feeders hangs from above for all the 125-varieties of birds that visit my farm.

These are two giant Norway spruce trees – the only two in this shade garden left after the big tree-removal project in January.

The skies appeared very ominous on this morning. This photo was taken with my Apple iPhone, with absolutely no filters – everything looked very gloomy, and at first quite pink.

Here is another photo taken of the stable and cobblestone courtyard around 7am. I always love to take snapshots of the changing colors of the sky. The farm was still quite dark and pinkish gray.

Behind the stable, are my seedling trees – many of them unrecognizable under the snow.

By 7:10am, the skies were very gray and sinister. This is the fence around the flower cutting garden. The snow seems to stick to everything, including the top railings of the fence.

And this is one section of my pinetum, an area I developed behind my Equipment Barn and near one of my weeping willow groves. The pinetum collection has grown so well over the years. It includes pines, spruces and firs, as well as other evergreens.

Just on the other side of the Equipment Barn is the allee of pin oaks. This snow was quite heavy and wet, so it stuck well to the branches of these majestic tall trees.

Just down this carriage road is one of the main intersections of the farm – to the left is my long boxwood allee, and to the right is the path to the woodlands and straight ahead is a grove of American beech trees and the antique fencing surrounding one of the horse paddocks.

The sky is changing colors again. Here, it is a bluish gray as I turn left towards the stable. The snow will be swept off the boxwood, but I am glad they are all protected under their burlap coverings.

Heading down the allee, you can see just a little bit of light coming through the gray clouds.

This photo was taken around 7:20am – and the skies are a bit lighter. This is the carriage road in front of my stable barn on the right.

And just feet away is my vegetable garden. The snow is also covering my collection of stone pavers, which we use for various projects around the farm.

Here is the view looking in the other direction along the carriage road under my pin oaks. They look so beautiful, with its canopy of snow covered branches overhead – a veritable winter wonderland.

I drove through the woodland around 8am, lightly plowing the carriage roads so they would be passable. The untouched snow in the fields looks so pretty. Thankfully, the wind was not very strong, so none of the trees suffered any damage.

As many of you know, I built a small woodland cottage for my grandchildren. It is a one-room structure nestled deep in the woods of the farm.

This view is back near my Winter House – just between the paddocks looking north – the pergola is on the right.

I love how the snow sticks to every surface, such as the overhead cross beams of my winding pergola. Below is the hedge of boxwood that lines the beds. They are also covered under a protective burlap blanket.

This view looks toward my “Party Lawn” under a walkway in the center of the pergola. Look up and see the snow framing each section of wood.

Here is another view of the long pergola, which also goes through many transformations through the course of the year. Come spring, this area will be overflowing with color once again.

Just after 8am, blue skies can be seen above my flower cutting garden – very different from the photo taken earlier from this same angle.

A smaller pergola located near my main greenhouse stores various stone troughs that are displayed in front of my greenhouse in warmer months.

Making another round, this is another popular allee on the farm – my linden trees down by the peafowl palais.

At 8:20am, more blue skies can be seen over the stable.

This is one of two gigantic antique iron sugar kettles that I have on my Terrace Parterre. They make wonderful outdoor fire pits – look how the snow has molded around the inside of the bowl.

This one also has snow on the outside rim.

This is one of the big boxwood shrubs tucked under its burlap shroud – so round and perfectly covered in white. It looks like a piece of art.

This view is of the “Party Lawn” where I love to play games such as croquet and cornhole during summer. On this day, the “Party Lawn” is under cold, but very sunny skies around 8:40am.

The day’s temperatures remained in the 20s, but it was a gorgeous day after the snowstorm. Go to my Instagram page @marthastewart48.com for more of my photos.

Four-miles of carriage roads plowed. Here I am back in front of my Winter House kitchen.

These roads are covered in gravel, so I keep the plow just barely touching the top of the snow.

This Polaris XP 1000 is great for this job – it plows wonderfully and gets into tight spots where a big pick-up truck wouldn’t be able to go. I finished plowing in two-hours. How has the weather been this year where you live? Share your comments with me in the section below.